The following post and interview was conducted by guest contributor Ed Douglas:

Director Gore Verbinski has dabbled in all sorts of genres in the fifteen years he’s been making movies from the family comedy Mousehunt to the horrors of The Ring, character drama with The Weather Man and the swashbuckling high seas adventures of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies. With his latest film Rango, he kills two birds with one stone, making his first Western and his first fully animated film, reuniting with Johnny Depp as the voice of the title character, a domesticated chameleon who finds himself stranded in the middle of the desert where he’s recruited as the sheriff of a wayward town. As might be expected from the duo who created the outlandish Captain Jack Sparrow, the resulting movie is likely to be the crazies animated movie you’ll see this year, because like with the “Pirates” movies, it’s all about how Depp’s eclectic character interacts with the equally quirky characters he meets.

/Film got on the phone with Verbinski earlier this week for a quick chat about the movie:

Question: I really enjoyed the movie and got a lot out of it that I was hoping for when I saw “True Grit.”

Gore Verbinski: (laughs) That was a good movie, too.

Q: I got the impression this wasn’t necessarily meant as a kiddie film when you started out, so was that the case, or was it always going to be an animated movie with a lizard?

Verbinski: Well, it was sort of made for the kid inside me, and it’s nice now seeing it with adults and with kids and seeing it sort of oscillate and work in both areas. Kids are sort of constantly underestimated and they’re really reaching for it and the adults are having a good time. I dunno, you tell me.

Are you smart, a bit weird and in love with movies? Then Rango is the animated film for you. Hell, it wants to be you. This often delightful western re-teams director Gore Verbinski and Johnny Depp; for a treasure trove of anthropomorphized animal characters and animated eye candy that (gasp!) eschews the 3D fad for gold old-fashioned 2D. Rango‘s love of movies — and reliance on one classic in particular — may go a little overboard in the end, but I can hardly fault Gore Verbinski for making something that dares to be odd, and plays to the audience in his own head rather than a studio focus group. You won’t see an animated Hunter S. Thompson in a DreamWorks film. Read More »

We thought global warming was heating up the planet, but really it’s Hollywood. They’re making it summer all year long. The first weekend of May is generally considered the beginning of the summer movie season but, as those three months got more and more crowded, that date slowly crept into late April. Now, 2011 changes that like never before.

So many potential blockbusters staked their claim on prime May, June and July 2011 release dates, in some cases, years in advance, Hollywood was forced to change its thinking more than usual. For the next two months, each and every weekend has at least one or two films that, in the past, would have easily been considered summer blockbusters and it all begins this Friday, March 4. So, is it crazy to say that the summer of 2011 begins in March? We don’t think so. Look at the list of films opening between this week and Thor on May 6 and tell us that, in almost any other year, these movies would not be considered summer blockbusters. Read More »

We’re pretty excited for Rango, the new Gore Verbinski-directed animated feature starring Johnny Depp as a charismatic chameleon. And we’re not the only ones. Paramount’s clearly pushing this film hard, even buying it a commercial during the Super Bowl. Now that’s commitment.

A couple of months ago, we showed you a making-of featurette for Rango titled “Behind the Scenes: Natural Acting Experience,” which demonstrated Verbinski’s new technique for creating CGI characters. As Peter put it, “Imagine something like how they filmed Avatar, but without all the motion capture suits, balls, and green screen.” A new B-roll shows more footage of the cast and crew in action. It’s all quite fun and charming. Check it out after the jump. Read More »

What is Page 2? Page 2 is a compilation of stories and news tidbits, which for whatever reason, didn’t make the front page of /Film. After the jump we’ve included 30 different items, fun images, videos, casting tidbits, articles of interest and more. It’s like a mystery grab bag of movie web related goodness. If you have any interesting items that we might’ve missed that you think should go in /Film’s Page 2 – email us!

Mini-LOL: Is Disney trying to sell their latest animated film Tangled with subliminal sex messages? [brew]

What is Page 2? Page 2 is a compilation of stories and news tidbits, which for whatever reason, didn’t make the front page of /Film. After the jump we’ve included 40 different items, fun images, videos, casting tidbits, articles of interest and more. It’s like a mystery grab bag of movie web related goodness. If you have any interesting items that we might’ve missed that you think should go in /Film’s Page 2 – email us!

What is Page 2? Page 2 is a compilation of stories and news tidbits, which for whatever reason, didn’t make the front page of /Film. After the jump we’ve included 32 different items, fun images, videos, casting tidbits, articles of interest and more. It’s like a mystery grab bag of movie web related goodness. If you have any interesting items that we might’ve missed that you think should go in /Film’s Page 2 – email us!

What is Page 2? Page 2 is a compilation of stories and news tidbits, which for whatever reason, didn’t make the front page of /Film. After the jump we’ve included 31 different items, fun images, videos, casting tidbits, articles of interest and more. It’s like a mystery grab bag of movie web related goodness. If you have any interesting items that we might’ve missed that you think should go in /Film’s Page 2 – email us!